generation has its own problems to solve, and ignoring for the most
part the evils of the distant past, each generation must test existing
institutions by their present results.

Sec. 6. #Limitations of private property#. It is well, in discussing
private property, to rid the mind at once of the idea that it is an
absolute and unchanging thing. Few realize the manifold ways in which
property rights are limited. Unmodified private control of property is
unknown; the public makes many reservations in its own interest. There
is, first, a whole set of limitations to prevent nuisances. An owner
in many situations is not free to build a slaughter-house or to start
a glue-factory on his land. Property is governed by general public
utility, and anything that threatens to become a nuisance or a danger
may be excluded. Under the right of "eminent domain," the state or the
railroad takes the old homestead from the owner who would live and die
there.

Altho pecuniary damages are paid to him, this is a limitation of his
property rights. Rights of way on property exist either by contract
or by prescription permitting its public use. Most important of all
limitations is the right of taxation, by which society takes more or
less of private incomes for purposes of which the individual owners
may not approve.

The law enforces a multitude of private claims by some persons against
others. A variety of rights called easements or servitudes may attach
to private property, modifying its exclusive use. Leases for any
period are a limitation of the owner's control. Both the holder of
the lease and the owner of the property have certain rights before the
law. The lender of money secured by mortgage has a legally recognized
and enforceable interest in the mortgaged wealth. Property is left in
trust for the benefit of persons or of institutions or of the public,
and is administered by trustees who are strictly bound to execute the
terms of their instructions. Contracts of many sorts are entered
into by owners, limiting their control in manifold ways, and the
law enforces these contracts. These all form a complex of equitable
claims, which together equal in value one undivided property right,
which in turn equals the value of the wealth.[4]

Sec. 7. #Limitations of bequest and inheritance#. The term bequest
implies a will, usually a written will in which the person, in
anticipation of death, expresses his wishes as to the disposition of
his